Solar Eclipse May 20, 2012: Online Streaming, Where to Watch It Live on the Internet

The following links will stream the solar eclipse on May 20, 2012,  live, via online broadcasting or streaming:

Slooh Space Camera
'Eclipse Live from Fujiyama' (Panasonic)

The broadcast will begin streaming at 3:29 p.m. PST in the Slooh Space Camera website.

Or watch it here:


Streaming Live by Ustream  

In the second website, Panasonic is sponsoring an event that will give the internet audience an opportunity to appreciate the celestial phenomenon from an unusual high altitude of 3,776 meters above sea level, also known as the top of Mt. Fuji--Japan's highest location.

Panasonic will start broadcasting the event online from 3:00 p.m. PST, May 19, 2012 and on its website assures: "all equipment used for this live broadcast will be powered completely by solar energy."

The best cities to appreciate the annular eclipse (with an appropriate and safe telescope ideally) are the following:

- Guangzhou, China
- Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan
- Redding, California
- Reno, Nevada
- Albuquerque, New Mexico

Eclipse Time:
The eclipse begins at 10:06 p.m. UTC, May 20, in China and will pass through Taiwan and Japan. It will reach the central pacific ocean at 11:55 p.m. UTC, May 20.

In the U.S., the eclipse will be visible in California from 6:29 p.m. PST, May 20, pass through Nevada and stop in Texas.

The visibility for Sunday's eclipse will not be limited to only the eight states--Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Arizona--through which the eclipse's central path runs; it will also be visible in various other states although in this case it will appear more of a partial eclipse than a total eclipse.

States on the eastern coast, such as New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and others will miss out completely since it'll already be dark there.

If you reside within the central path however, the difference is that it'll possibly be dimmer, although as opposed to a total solar eclipse, Sunday's eclipse is an annular eclipse meaning that one shouldn't really get too excited about seeing the sky turn pitch dark.

Annular solar eclipses don't really block the sun's rays completely since the moon, in this type of eclipse, will appear smaller--four percent smaller specifically speaking in this case. Instead of seeing the moon finely outlined by a line of light, you'll see a moon outlined by a thicker crown or ring of fire.